Gambles in the Life of Golden
by AllShadesOfGreen
Summary: Golden was your typical Fire Flower. Born with one root out the door, always grabbing chances and opportunities when she sees them. She was the Gambling Queen, and owned all the chips in life's poker game. But when fate decides to balance the Queen's luck, things start to take a turn for the worst.


Gambles in the Life of Golden

When Golden sees a chance to listen to the beat of Mother Earth, she grasps it as fast as her roots tangle themselves to the garden floor.

Same goes for teasing her little sister, Sunbeam. It was much of the same for shooting sun lasers at zombies during the daily chases.

Several times she had followed this urge when she sees Dave's infamous tacos, just waiting to be eaten by the crazy man himself- before Golden digested them for him.

She was like this towards nearly everything she does in life. Grasping opportunities that come towards her plant body, as brief as they were. She never rejects an open door, just because she doesn't know what was on the other side.

Ever since she was just a dainty little sunflower sprout, other plants referred to her as a 'one root out the door' kind of plant. Golden knew that the metaphor used meant that she was extremely curious and always thought she was ready to rush out of the places she knew. That worried her mother to the point where she never let Golden leave without a hug from her.

But Golden had a different say about her personality. She had always thought that she was impulsive- a personality that was a gamble for many- and that she was dependent on the unknown things that were on the other side of the door. Sometimes, she even considered herself as a gambler, playing her cards on life, and going too fast. She got the good cards for the majority of her life, and if she ever received a bad card, she simply smiles because she knew she needed it.

She was mature enough to accept things like that, no doubt.

But everyone knows that she couldn't live her days gambling and not knowing what went next. Everyone but her knew that without much preparation, something horrible that was bound to happen could psychologically scar her, and her special case on life.

What they didn't know, was that Golden was always prepared for the lemons thrown at her. She never left her home without her determination to end the crisis Suburbia was in.

Her determination and love for chances had led her to being one of the strongest fighters the Defenders ever had.

Saw an unarmed zombie trudging within a mile's reach? Golden uses her sun rays to put it back to rest.

Saw depletion in the health in one of her comrades that were fending off undead scientists? She heals them in a split-second.

Saw an opportunity to destroy all zombies in her radius? All plants run for cover as she burns them all.

It was like nothing in the world could shatter her sunflower figure. She agreed with the concept. Because she knew, that with her excited need to take the chance, she was the ultimate Gambling Queen the world has ever welcomed into its life-filled lands.

With every good thing that happens to someone, whether it was a plant, a person, an animal, or even a zombie, happens something bad. It was the universal rule, in order to maintain the balance of luck, if there were ever any such thing.

In Golden's life, where very good things happen in almost every tick of the minute hand, was a bad week just waiting to happen.

She knew to herself that she had too much good luck, and that she everything good comes with a price. As mature as she was, somehow she never wished for the days where she would pay would come.

But they came anyway.

For instance, a week ago when she saw a chance to destroy a zombie, she tried to take it, and she did. Charging at the zombie with a look of mischievous intent in her brown eyes, the zombie had mirrored her look and moved away just in time before Golden could connect a punch. The punch connected, not with the zombie, but with a fellow plant which was not doing well with killing a scientist twice.

She was suspended for a day when that happened. It was a warning, but she turned to ignore it.

Her ignorance had led her to the worst days of her plant life.

Like three days ago, when she and her teammates went to scout for zombie camps, to see what they were doing. Her team had consisted of two peashooters, a cactus, a chomper, and Golden herself. Their commander gave them the order, in order for them to prepare for the next fight.

Golden could never forget what happened when they did.

When they came, she and the others began hiding in a bush near a zombie camp. They heard the undead voices chatter, and though they could barely understand what they were saying, they could tell that they were planning their next attack. Golden saw another opportunity to destroy the horde, and mentioned to her teammates that they could burn the camp, so that they wouldn't have to attack at all.

No one else agreed with her, because they played by the orders of their commander, and they explained to her that they could get hurt.

She thought hard about the consequences, but soon, the embers of temptation reached her flaming petals, coaxing her to do it, and burn the object of their supposed destruction.

She set the camp on fire.

But her teammates got caught, and they were never seen after that incident. Golden felt too much shame and remorse after the incident, and didn't return to headquarters. Instead, she ran away.

Golden wished that she would take back that moment, even if she knew that it was far out of her reaches.

Her life was falling apart, and her chips were almost spent.

And yesterday's war had hit her the hardest.

Yesterday, the largest zombie horde she had ever encountered came. It was the supposed end of them, the end they never thought would come. Gargantuars everywhere they looked, brain-less scientists equipped with gadgets from two years in advance, and foot soldiers without any mind stretched as far as the river that ran for at least five miles.

The size of the horde was intimidating, and the plants found it extremely difficult to hold their ground. Maybe not Golden, but her face clearly showed the sheer terror and early defeat that was building up in her.

They had needed every plant they had, and so Golden's mother and family were included in the war. The family of Fire Flowers and Flame Peas stood out among the others, with their fiery demeanor setting them ablaze.

And the fight was a blur, missiles flew in all directions imaginable, peas splattering over the flesh of dead skin, and many other sounds had originated from anywhere within a fifteen mile's reach.

She fought harder than she had ever remembered fighting in her life, reflecting burning-hot light towards the undead and healing every plant that came across her. She fought as if the whole fate of Suburbia was placed upon her shoulders- in a way, it was.

Burning another straight line of zombies with her powers, she moved forward. Golden desperately looked around her, to where her family fought for their lives. Her mother and little sister were too busy doing the same thing Golden did best; burning anything that came their way. With a worried expression, Golden kept fighting.

The zombies were overpowering them, the horde was just too big for them to handle. If they wanted a chance to survive, they would rely on Golden.

But after what happened at the camp site? They could never forgive her if the word got out. They would never rely on her again, nor would they trust her sense of decision and instinct. Golden doubted that her family would welcome her with open arms after hearing her story.

All Golden had left were her impulses.

And she had no choice but to follow them.

Saw a chance to end the war?

She took the chance.

Climbing up the stairs of a water tower, a Fire Flower was breathing steadily. Her tear-stained face revealed bloodshot eyes that were so tired from crying all night. Embers were slowly trailing behind her leaves, and she paid no notice.

Beneath the water tower, one would see a battlefield. Bodies- undead humans and the decaying forms of plants- were scattered everywhere.

But none so brightly as the Flame Peas and the Fire Flowers that had died in the fight.

Curiously, they had not died of the zombie horde.

They died because of their ever-consuming relative; the flame.

Everything else died because of the flames.

Last night, a firestorm had swept through Suburbia. The fire consumed everything, the Gargantuars, the inventions of the brainless scientists, the homes of hundreds of living human individuals, and the plants that had tried to protect the living from the dead.

There was only one plant that had the power to summon a firestorm, and that plant was no other than Golden.

Standing on the edge of the water tower, was Golden herself.

Guilt was eating her from inside out, in the same way that zombies do with her kind. She had tried to save Suburbia from the zombies that threatened to destroy it, only to finish her opponent's purpose.

She was the destruction of Suburbia.

She had played her last card, all the chips were spent, and alas, the Gambling Queen was defeated.

The luck is finally balanced.

 **ANNNNNNDDD… CUT!**

 **Author's Note: I am not dead. So, I had nothing to do today, and this came out almost immediately after eating lunch. And I had a rough day today… I guess I'll be seeing you later then,**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Plants VS Zombies. It belongs to Pop Cap Games, and I am merely a fan who wrote this horrible fiction that didn't even pass the 2000 word mark.**


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